South Dakota Department of the Military

South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs

WWII Veteran Shares

War Story

2

Davison County Wel-

come Home Vietnam

Veterans Event

3

Welcome Home Vi-

etnam Veterans Cele-

bration in Pierre

4-5

SDNG Trains with First

Responders

6-7

SFVAHCS Hosts

Clothesline Project

7

Bataan Memorial Death

March

8

Upcoming Events 9

Inside this issue:

APRIL 2, 2015

House Bill 1179 Signed into Law

Governor Daugaard recently signed into law House Bill 1179 which rede-fines the state’s definition of veteran. On hand for the official signing were (left to right): Rep. Roger Solum, Rep. Matthew Wollmann, Sen. Dan Lederman, SDDVA Sec. Larry Zimmer-man, Terry Paulsen (PVA) and Michael Olson (PVA).

P A G E 2 S O U T H D A K O T A D E P A R T M E N T O F T H E M I L I T A R Y S O U T H D A K O T A D E P A R T M E N T O F V E T E R A N S A F F A I R S

Paul Priest of Box Elder will tell about the Allies capturing the bridge at Remagen, Germany, at 7 p.m. Central Time on Tuesday, April 14, at the South Dakota National Guard Museum , 301 E. Dako-ta Ave., Pierre. “Paul is the sole surviving member of his division’s reconnaissance team. He is one of the few people still able to give an eyewitness account of events that occurred 70 years ago,” said Michael Lewis, president of the South Dakota Historical Society Foundation. Priest’s talk is part of the History and Heritage Book Club sponsored by the foundation, the non-profit fundraising partner of the South Dakota State Historical Society at the Cultural Heritage Cen-ter in Pierre. The foundation and Post 8 American Legion in Pierre are sponsoring Priest’s talk. Priest was one of the first soldiers to cross the Ludendorff Bridge on March 7, 1945. The railroad bridge was a vital thorough-fare for German troops and supplies. Its capture meant that Germany was unable to move troops and supplies across the bridge, and opened the way for Allied troops to drive into the heart of Germa-ny. Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945. Priest was born on Dec. 25, 1925, in Flint, Mich. He was drafted into the U.S. Army and completed basic training at Blanden, Fla. He landed in France on his 19

th birthday,

Dec. 25, 1944. He was as-signed to the U.S. Army’s 9

th

Armored Division Headquar-ters Company, performing reconnaissance patrols for the division, when he fought to capture the bridge at Remagen. As part of a reconnaissance patrol, he would have explored an area to gather military information. After the war, Priest returned to Flint and married his pre-war sweetheart, Joan. In 2013, the Priests traveled to the 9

th Armored Division’s World War II combat sites, part of the “End the War in

’44 Tour.” Priest collaborated on publishing the book “Return to the Bridge at Remagen” and the documen-tary “Die Brueke Von Remagen.” Priest will be accompanied to Pierre by retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. George A. Larson of Rapid City. Larson has written a book about the history of Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City, “Thunder over Dakota, The History of Ellsworth Air Force Base, 1941-2011.” Priest will have a display of items from World War II, and Larson will have his book “Thunder over Dakota” at the evening program. The book is sold at the Heritage Store at the Cultural Heritage Center.

Veteran to share his world war II

experiences

P A G E 3 S O U T H D A K O T A D E P A R T M E N T O F T H E M I L I T A R Y S O U T H D A K O T A D E P A R T M E N T O F V E T E R A N S A F F A I R S

Davison county hosts welcome home

celebration for Vietnam veterans

Jessica Davidson, County Veterans Ser-vice Office for Da-vison County, stepped outside of the box and offered something a little new and relaxing for her Vietnam Veter-ans Welcome Home. She coordinated her own little town square with vendors, including two mas-sage therapists who provided free chair massages. Door prizes were award-ed, and information on benefits was provided. While walking through her mini town square veter-ans could sample éclairs, cream puffs and fresh fruit. A veteran thanking Jessica for the event noted, “The last time I wore my uniform was in 1972 at the Chicago O'Hare airport.” He said, “a little girl ran up to me saying ‘soldier man’ and then the little girl’s mother grabbed her daughter by the arm and said don’t talk to him. She called me a ba-by killer and spit on me.” Throughout her event, Davison stressed to her heroes that this community, this state, this county and this CVSO are resilient advocates for South Dakota’s heroes.

Thank you and welcome home veterans

Once again, the communities of Pierre and Fort Pierre rolled out the “red car-pet” to South Dakota’s Vi-etnam Veterans. Although, it’s been decades since the Vi-etnam War be-gan, most would agree that the reception they received this weekend and during the 2006 dedication of the Vietnam Memorial was much more sin-cere and heartwarming then the greeting they received upon their return home from war. Guest speakers Pierre Mayor Laurie Gill, Senator Ried Holien, SDDVA Secretary Zim-merman, and Governor Daugaard all shared one same message—”thank you and wel-come home.” SDDVA Secretary Zimmerman opened his remarks on Sunday with “Good Morning!” Before he could finish, the crowd responded “Good After-noon,” Only to hear the Secre-

tary respond “Good Morn-ing Vietnam!” He noted that this is a day to remember those that are here and those that did not make it home. “This weekend we honor our great heroes from the Vietnam War, they left their family's to fight a war that the public opposed,” said Zimmerman. “We knew then and we know now they were heroes fighting for freedoms many miles away from home. We will never forget them.”

P A G E 4 S O U T H D A K O T A D E P A R T M E N T O F T H E M I L I T A R Y S O U T H D A K O T A D E P A R T M E N T O F V E T E R A N S A F F A I R S

P A G E 5 S O U T H D A K O T A D E P A R T M E N T O F T H E M I L I T A R Y S O U T H D A K O T A D E P A R T M E N T O F V E T E R A N S A F F A I R S

“These heroes served honorable and bravely, “ said Zimmerman. This Welcome Home Celebration afforded all of us an opportunity to show our unified gratitude for there service and sacrifices that these veterans made on our behalf.” On Saturday morning, Darwin

Goodspeed, director of the Sioux Falls VA, as well as Kathleen Metzger and Jesse Blankenship from the Da-kotas Regional Office spoke with Vi-etnam Veterans about benefits and assisted veterans with the filing of claims. In addition to the VA briefing, a town hall forum was held to discuss Agent Or-ange followed by a celebration dinner and a pre-screening of the “Last Days in Vietnam.” Helicopter Pilot Steve Novotny escorted the caravan of Vietnam Veterans from Fort Pierre to the Pierre Capitol Lake Visitors Center for the Remembrance Ceremony. For many this weekend afforded our he-roes with an opportunity to reunite with other heroes, rekindle friendships and relive stories. The two-day celebration ended with veter-ans placing flowers into the wreath in honor of a veteran lost in combat. A special thank you to the South Dakota State Council of Vietnam Veterans of America, community leaders, service organizations and volunteers for making this a special weekend for our heroes!!!! Always remember, no mat-ter the day, no matter the location, when you encounter a Vietnam Veter-an, take a moment to say “welcome home and thank you for your service.” It is an expression of gratitude that is long overdue!!!!

P A G E 6 S O U T H D A K O T A D E P A R T M E N T O F T H E M I L I T A R Y S O U T H D A K O T A D E P A R T M E N T O F V E T E R A N S A F F A I R S

The South Dakota National Guard's 82nd Civil Support Team participated in a multi-agency first-responder exercise at the water reclamation plant in Sioux Falls, March 19. The incident exercise involved a simulated explo-sion to one of the buildings on site, simulated casual-ties and possible chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives contaminants in the area. The incident commander, from Sioux Falls Fire Rescue, had a number of agencies involved in support as they worked the situation based on priority of threat. "Today, the goal was to be better prepared for a radioactive event and gain more experience working with outside agencies," said Master Sgt. Alan Tuschen, 82nd CST operations noncommissioned officer. "At any training event we conduct, we are trying to exercise our procedures and how to make ourselves better and more efficient so we can advise an incident commander quickly and safely." The state and local first responders have a proven capability to deal with most emergencies. However, if a situation involves weapons of mass destruction or a military chemical agent it could quickly overwhelm the existing agencies. The 82nd is trained to handle these unique circumstances. Once called upon, the CST integrates into the Inci-dent Command System in support of the incident commander. "We all receive different training and techniques so it helps everyone involved consider a new, more effective way of doing business," said Tuschen. Sioux Falls Fire Rescue, the Sioux Falls bomb squad, the Department of Criminal Investigations bomb squad and the 82nd CST all worked together as the situation evolved. Once the CST was called up-on by the IC, they moved into action and assessed the situation for CBRNE characteristics, provided as-sistance and advisement on appropriate response actions to the civilian responders and worked to identify any unknown substances/agents that may be present in the area of explosives. "In the event of an actual response, it helps us skip the steps of meeting who we will be working with and learning their procedures," said Tuschen. "We already know who we need to talk to, we have an idea of what priorities each entity has, their equipment capabilities and during these exer-cises everyone learns something new."

(continued)

Sd civil support team trains with first

responders

P A G E 7 S O U T H D A K O T A D E P A R T M E N T O F T H E M I L I T A R Y S O U T H D A K O T A D E P A R T M E N T O F V E T E R A N S A F F A I R S

The CST combines the skills of six sections: command, operations/administration, survey, medical, communications, and logistics/decontamination. The unit comprised of 22 full-time Army and Air Guardsmen who bring a wide range of career ex-perience from the military and civilian sectors. Each team member completes over 850 hours of tech-nical training by agencies including National Fire Academy, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and Environmental Protection Agency. The 82nd's mission is to support local and state authorities at domestic incident sites by identifying agents and substances, assessing current and pro-jected consequences, advising on response measures and handling requests from the governor for addi-tional military support. This includes incidents involv-ing the intentional or unintentional release of CBRNE and natural or man-made disasters that result or could result in the catastrophic loss of life or property in the United States. The CST is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for rapid deployment for re-sponse operations. "Getting to know these professionals involved, working with them and learning from them is al-ways invaluable training," said Tuschen. "It helps us to provide a disciplined, well trained and equipped team to protect the people and assets of South Dakota and the United States.”

Sd civil support team trains with first

responders (continued)

Sioux falls va hosts clothesline project

The Sioux Falls VA Health Care System will host its second annual Clothesline Project – a visual display intended to raise awareness about the impact of military sexual trauma (MST), sexual assault, and sexual abuse. Survivors (both male and fe-male) have decorated t-shirts to reflect their experiences and bring awareness of the impact of sexual trauma. The t-shirts will be displayed for public viewing on a clothesline in the front foyer of the medical center April 6-9, 2015. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and VA provides free care for mental and physical health conditions related to MST. One in five female and one in 100 male Veterans have told their VA health care providers they experienced sexual trauma while in the military. Veterans should contact Charlotte McGrath, Women Veterans Program Manager, at 605-336-3230, Ext. 7747, or Robin Carter-Visscher, PhD, local VA MST Coordinator, at 333-6890, to participate or find out more about the display.

P A G E 8 S O U T H D A K O T A D E P A R T M E N T O F T H E M I L I T A R Y S O U T H D A K O T A D E P A R T M E N T O F V E T E R A N S A F F A I R S

A group of South Dakota National Guard Soldiers joined thousands from across the country to march through the high desert terrain of White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, March 22 for the 26th Annual Bataan Memorial Death March. The 26.2-mile march honors the tens of thousands of Soldiers, Sailors and Marines, both Ameri-can and Filipino, who were taken prisoner, April 9, 1942 by Japanese forces in World War II. The prisoners were forced to march to POW camps, beginning on the southern end of the Ba-taan Peninsula in the Philippines, more than 60 miles in the scorching heat through the Philippine jungles. The horrible conditions and harsh treatment of the prisoners during the Bataan Death March result-ed in an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 deaths. Those who survived faced the hardships of a prisoner of war camp. Sgt. Jeremy Eccleston, a member of the 842nd Engineer Company in Spearfish, has completed the march three times now. This year, he found inspira-tion locally and reached out to family members of Sgt. Lloyd L. Kelly (1920-1965), living in Rapid City. Eccleston spoke with Tanya Nelson, Lloyd's grand-daughter, and asked her if he and another Soldier (Staff Sgt. Brian Johnson of the 842nd Engineer Com-pany, Detachment 1, in Belle Fourche) could do the march in her grandfather's honor. "It meant a lot to our family," said Tanya, who first asked her father, Marlin, and uncles, Joe and Clayton, how they would feel about their father being hon-ored by local Soldiers in this year's march. "They were honored. It was so nice to hear about people wanting to march in his honor after all these years." During the march, Eccleston and Johnson each wore a ribbon honoring Kelly and carried another, which they presented to Tanya, March 26 in Rapid City. Other South Dakota Soldiers drew inspiration from Bataan survivors themselves, who attended this year's memorial march and shared stories of their hardships with marchers firsthand. Participants in the event include individuals, teams, runners, walkers, marchers, active duty, Guard and Reserve, wounded warriors, and veterans and each finds their own reason to complete the marathon-length march. Since its 1989 inception, the memorial march has grown from about 100 to more than 6,500 par-ticipants from across the U.S. and several foreign countries.

Sd guard members march to honor fallen

at bataan memorial death march

A group of South Dakota National Guard Soldiers gather before the start of the 26th Annual Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands Missile Range,

New Mexico, March 22, 2015. Eight members of the SDARNG marched in the 26.2-mile event that honors the tens of thousands of Soldiers, Sailors and Marines, both American and Filipino, who were taken prison-er, April 9, 1942 by Japanese forces in World War II and force-marched to POW camps resulting in an esti-mated 7,000 to 10,000 deaths. Pictured from left to right are: Staff Sgt. Mark Poncelet, 211th Engineer Company, Sgt. Ryan Dannon, 211th Engineer Compa-ny, Madison; Staff Sgt. Louis du Randt, 211th Engineer Company, Staff Sgt. Shawn Dempsey, 153rd Engineer

Battalion, Huron, and Sgt. Katherina Schaefer, 842nd Engineer Company, Spearfish.

P A G E 9 S O U T H D A K O T A D E P A R T M E N T O F T H E M I L I T A R Y S O U T H D A K O T A D E P A R T M E N T O F V E T E R A N S A F F A I R S

Apr. 6—BHNC Unaccompanied Veterans Memorial Service—9:00 am (MT) Apr. 14—World War II Stories Relived—SDNG Museum—Pierre—7:00 pm Apr. 15—South Dakota Veterans Council Meeting (DAV—Sioux Falls) 10:00 am Apr. 23—ICVCSF Conference—Aberdeen Apr 24—ISVCSF Conference-Yankton May 1-3—DAV Convention—Sioux Falls Holiday Inn City Centre May 5—SDDVA Mini Conference—Sturgis (Veterans Club—868 Main Street) —10:00 am (MT) May 6—SDDVA Mini Conference—Pierre (Post 8 American Legion—520 S. Pierre Street) —10:00 am May 7—SDDVA Mini Conference—Sioux Falls (VA Regional Office) —9:00 am Jun. 18-21—VFW State Convention—Yankton, SD Jun. 24—Black Hills Job Fair—Western Dakota Tech—Rapid City—12;30—5:00 pm (MT) Jun.. 25-28—American Legion 97th Annual State Convention—Huron Crossroads Convention Center Jul. 6—BHNC Unaccompanied Veterans Memorial Service—9:00 am (MT) Aug. 5-9—AVTT Traveling Vietnam Wall Comes to Sioux Falls (Sanford Pentagon Sports Complex) Aug. 24-27—SDDVA Annual Benefit School—Ramkota—Pierre Oct. 9—BHNC Unaccompanied Veterans Memorial Service—9:00 am (MT)

Audry Ricketts, Public Information Officer

South Dakota Department of the Military http://military.sd.gov

South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs http://vetaffairs.sd.gov

Soldiers and Sailors Building

425 E Capitol Avenue

Pierre, SD 57501

Phone: 605-773-8242

E-mail address: audry.ricketts@state.sd.us